To Earn a Name
by ImagingThings
Summary: After running away from her abusive father the daughter of Nunkah (Spider) ends up with the elves, and embarks on a quest to find a name.


Spider's Daughter

"Come back here, you stupid girl." The tall hunter stood at the edge of the great woods, yelling to a smaller figure standing in between the trees.

"Why don't you come in a get me yourself?" The smaller figure yelled back. "Oh, that's right, I forgot. You're afraid of these woods, have been so ever since your first wife left you. You think I haven't heard the stories?"

"I have a reason to not wanting to enter these woods; evil spirit lives here. My first wife was in cahoots with them."

"They can't be worse than you. I'll take my chances."

With those words the small figure turned her back to everything she had known in her short life, the tall hunter remained at the edge of the woods, still yelling but not daring to come closer. Eventually the sound of her father's voice – for her father it was – diminished and the sounds of the woods around her grew in strength. She was the daughter of the Spider, and ever since her mother had died she had heard nothing but harsh words, the only touches she'd felt from a parent's hands had been almost endless beatings.

At first she was exhilarated by the fact that she had finally done it, had finally left her life of abuse behind. Gradually, though, another feeling began to take precedence within her mind; the feeling of fear, of loneliness. She was hungry, so very hungry, ever since she had left the village she hadn't eaten anything, in her hurry to get away she hadn't had time to bring food with her. Though the woods around her were filled with berries and nuts she dared not eat anything, not knowing what was safe.

Had she made a mistake running away? Back home she at least had food every day, even if it wasn't much. She could go to sleep every night with a roof over her head, not having to worry about wild animals. Out here night was coming with all its scary sounds, and it was cold, so very cold. Yet in her heart she knew that she could never go back; she had crossed her bridges and burned them behind her.

Thorny branches swiped at her, adding new cuts to her already bruised face, her arms and legs were soon all but dripping with blood. Still she kept going, not daring to stop.

Suddenly the ground gave way underneath her and she fell, tumbled down for longer time than she dared thinking about until, finally, her fall was broken. Unfortunately the fall wasn't the only thing that was broken; with a sickening crunch her leg snapped, and a pain more intense than anything she had ever felt shot through her. Unable to withstand it she let out a pained, anguished, scream; knowing full well that it ruined her every change of remaining undetected.

Girl Without a Name

She couldn't fall asleep now; if she did it would be the end, she would die from the cold if she wasn't eaten by wild animals before that. She had to fight it, had to stay awake, but she was tired, so very tired.

The sound of someone, or something, climbing down towards her jolted her awake, she tried to jump up, only fall back again with a pained scream as she accidentally put pressure on her injured leg. Eyes wide with fear she stared through the half dark at the figure, suddenly she realised that it was another human.

"Don't try to move." The figure said, coming closer. "That leg's broken."

"Really?" She asked through clenched teeth. "I hadn't noticed."

Chuckling lightly the figure came over and gently sat down next to her. Slowly he – for a male it was – reached out towards her leg, only for her to flinch and attempt to move away.

"Sorry." She muttered when she realised that he meant to harm. "It's just that the only man who has ever laid hands on me so far has been my father and he..."

"Did that to you?" The man asked darkly, indicated her face which, despite the quickly fading light, clearly showed the signs of abuse. Unable to reply she simply nodded, then sat in silence as the man examined her leg.

"That leg needs fixing, and quick." The man said, looking concerned. "Unfortunately it would be too risky trying to climb up with you in the dark. I'll keep you company tonight, and tomorrow I'll get you to my grandmother, she can fix you in no time."

"She must be really good."

"She is. She's the best. But where are my manners? I haven't introduced myself yet. I'm Shukopek, and you are?"

"I don't really have a name. My father calls me 'stupid girl', when he's being nice."

"And your mother?"

"She always called me 'my sweet dancing child'. She died a long time ago, I haven't been dancing since that happened, nor will I do so again for a while."

"I'm sorry, about your mother. But I think you might be dancing again sooner than you think."

"You really have great faith in your grandmother's abilities."

"So will you when you meet her. Now, try to sleep; I'll keep watch." The man, whom she now knew was called Shukopek, said.

Deciding to trust him, and unable to stay awake any longer, she fell into a deep slumber. Only vaguely sensing when her new companion light a small fire next to her.

The Spirits

When she awoke the next morning the girl was shocked to see a huge slate grey wolf starring down towards them and even more shocked when Shukopek yelled something in a strange language and it quickly turned around and darted away.

"He's one of my mother's best friends, I asked him to fetch my grandmother."

"The wolf is..." She began, then she remembered the stories her mother had told her. "Hang on; my mother used to tell me stories about my father's first wife. She had two spirit companions; one of them a boy who could transform into a wolf."

"That was him up there, Kimo. You're the daughter of 'the Spider', of Nunkah?"

"Yes."

"And I'm the son of Shuna, your father's first wife."

"Who's your father?"

"His name was Ikopek; he was a good and kind man."

"Was?"

"He was killed not that long ago, by men who couldn't understand that 'the spirits' aren't spirits at all, just people like you and I, only different."

"You know them? The... not-spirits?"

"Of course I do." He replied with a smile. "My mother was adopted by them."

"So, when you talked about your grandmother..."

"She's one of them, Leetah the healer. My grandfather is Cutter, chief of the Wolfriders. I'll introduce you to everyone when we get to the Holt."

The girl was about to ask Shukopek if he thought that was wise, bringing her to the spirits' home, and then she remembered what she had yelled to her father as she ran into the woods. She would take her chances with the 'spirits'. Not that she had much of a choice anyway.

It wasn't long before the sounds of movement was heard at the top of the cliffs, looking up the girl saw the wolf from before, this time accompanied by a beautiful woman whose entire being radiated kindness.

"Your grandmother?" She asked, even though she already knew the answer.

Quickly the pair – Leetah and Kimo, she quickly reminded herself – climbed down towards the girl and Shukopek. As soon as they were down Leetah kneeled in front of the girl, while Kimo went over and sat down next to Shukopek.

"This might feel a bit weird." Leetah said gently before placing her hands on the girl's leg.

A strange sensation shot through her leg, it wasn't painful at all – quite the opposite – and the girl could all but feel how the broken bone began to be mended and knitted back into its right position. Eventually, though, Leetah stopped; her face drenched with sweat.

"I'm sorry." She whispered. "I can't do any more."

"It's okay. When my leg broke I thought it meant I was going to die out here."

"Don't worry. Now let's get you back to the Holt, a good period of rest and your leg will be as good as new."

Shukopek tied a splinter around the girl's still broken leg, then she climbed onto his back and the four of them began the slow, difficult ascend out of the small canyon she'd fallen into.

Home

When they reached the top the girl was about to climb down from Shukopek's back, only for Leetah to quickly shake her head.

"Don't be silly." She said. "You can't walk on that leg."

"You aren't much of a burden anyway." Shukopek added.

Quickly the unusual company moved through the woods, a lot quicker than they would have done if the girl had had to hobble along on her own. In no time they reached their destination and the girl couldn't help but letting out an awed gasp of wonder. A huge tree – its branches reaching far into the sky above – stood in the centre of an open patch in the woods.

"That's the Father Tree." Shukopek explained, carrying her over and gently putting her down on one of its roots. Then he turned to the gathered people and said something in the strange language in which he had spoken to Kimo earlier.

"Welcome to the Holt." One of them, whose hair was partly tied into a high knot, said. "I'm Cutter, chief of the Wolfriders. What do you want us to call you?"

"I don't know." The girl said after a while. "I guess you'll just have to call me 'girl' for the time being. Until I find a name, make my own name out here. Is that weird?"

"Not at all. It's..." Cutter began, only for his voice to be drowned out by a loud rumbling coming from the girl's belly.

"Dear child." Leetah exclaimed. "You must be starving."

In no time a huge amount of food had been placed in front of the girl; there was so much, and it looked so delicious, that she had to almost physically restrain herself from just gobbling it all up, thus risk making herself sick.

"How long can I stay here?" She asked once the worst hunger was gone.

"For as long as you wish." Cutter replied. "This is your home now, if you want it to be."

'Home', she liked that. The village in which she had grown up had never been home, she felt more at home in this place than she'd felt before in her life.

Slowly but surely the girl recovered from her emotional and physical wounds, the treeshaper – Redlance was his name – fashioned a pair of crutches for her, enabling her to move around in the Holt on her own. Soon she found herself being drawn to the company of Ohler and Newstar, talking to the pair while Ohler worked in his small garden. Thus she was also able to pick up the strange language the spirits – or elves as she learned they were called – spoke, though she still frequently had difficulties.

"Something bothering you?" Ohler asked one day as they were working together in his garden – for as soon as the girl had become able to walk without her crotches she had swapped merely talking to the pair for helping with the work, learning much about the various plants at the same time.

"No, and yes." She began. "It's just, I've been living here and I haven't found a name yet."

"It's no hurry." Newstar said with a smile. "One day, I promise you, you'll find a name."

Naming Matters

Ever since that day the girl began actively looking for a name. However, she soon came to realise that finding a name was much more than simply taking a random word, or making up a word on her own; she wanted a name that was her name, a reflection of her new life.

"I wonder how everyone here was named." She said to Shukopek one day. "Your name is pretty easy to explain, your parents just took 'Shuna' and 'Ikopek', put them together and came up with 'Shukopek', didn't they?"

"Guess you could say that's the simple explanation." Shukopek replied with a smile.

"You want to know how everyone here was named?" Nightfall asked, coming over and sitting down next to them.

"Maybe not everyone, just a few; to give me a better idea of where to look for my own name."

"Well, then." Nightfall began, "I'll start with Cutter. Do you know why he's called what he's called?"

"Because of his skills with a sword, I suppose."

"That, yes, but more so for his ability to the truth of things. Then there's Newstar, she was named so because she was the first child born to our tribe after Madcoil."

"So, sometimes a child is named for a skill, sometimes for circumstances of their birth." The girl said. "But how can the parents know about their child's skills?"

"We can communicate with our children in the womb, so we know. But you know what? It seems somewhat silly to me to tell you how or why parents name their children, what you need is advice to how an adult may get a new name. Take Redlance, he was Redmark before, until he saved our old chief – Bearclaw – from a marauding longtooth. Or Sunstream, he used to be Suntop, and then he purged an ancient pool of bad magic."

"So, if I want to make a new name I have to do something really heroic?"

"Not necessarily. Take Freetouch; she got her adult tribe name pretty much because she'd grown too old for her old name – it still reflects who she is of course."

"What was her old name?"

"Chitter. Rarely has the Wolfriders seen a more talkative cub. She even managed to make her father speak out loud." There was a clear hint of laughter in Nightfall's voice, there was no doubt that the fact that Strongbow, who only spoke out loud when he had no other choice, had sired a cub who could rival the Preservers in talkativeness was a rather big joke amongst the Wolfriders.

Smiling the girl looked around the Holt; the talk with Nightfall had given her a better idea of where to look for a new name. She had been looking in all the wrong places, so far she'd looked at the world around her, while she really needed to look inside; look at who she was, truly was.

The Escape

Who was she? She had never really thought about it before, or rather; she had spent so much time being told that she was nobody – just a girl – that she had ended up actually believing it, the more she tried to look inside herself, the more she realised that she was still too hindered by the harsh words she had grown up hearing.

Then the winter came. It was quickly decided that the girl would spend the winter down in the old troll caverns; there she could help with the work in the forges, while also getting time to continue her search.

"This is hopeless!" The frustration being too much she sat down on the floor with a heavy sigh. "How can I ever look inside myself, ever find out who I truly am, when every time I try all I see is my father; telling me that I'm nobody?"

"You have to stop thinking of him as your father." Windkin said, coming over and sitting down next to her. "After all; he was never really your father, was he? Fathers raise their children, support them. They don't tell them that they're nobody. I'm sorry to say it but you humans are rather silly with your insistence that siring a child also makes you the father, and if someone else than the sire raises the child everyone involved – especially the child – should be ashamed."

"I'm not sure I understand."

"What my foggy-headed grandson is trying to tell you is that you can't find out who you are until you manage to escape your father."

"I thought I already did."

"You ran into the woods, yes. But you haven't truly escaped, have you?" Windkin asked, tapping her forehead. "He's still there, inside your head."

That was true. Why was she even allowing old 'Spider' to take up residence inside her head? Closing her eyes she looked inside herself, only this time she was ready when the shadow of her father appeared in her mind.

"Stupid girl!" It said, looming above her. "You're nobody. Just a girl. Useless!" The words continued for far longer than she dared think about, it took all her strength of will to not instantly break free of the memory.

"It's not true!" She yelled. "The only one who's nobody is you. And I'm no longer your daughter." Opening her eyes she was surprised to see the four elves staring at her, their expressions halfway between bemusement and concern.

"You okay?" Ahdri asked gently.

"I think I'll be just fine." The girl replied with a smile. "I spoke out loud didn't I?"

"Yes." Came the soft reply from Clearbrook. "A good thing too, otherwise we would have been really worried about you. After all; your other trips inside your mind was never that long."

Not long after spring returned in earnest and the girl moved back to the Holt. As the days became warmer she once again found herself occupied with the work in Ohler's garden, yet often she would find herself looking at a section of the woodland floor where the flowers seemed to bloom in greater abundance than anywhere else. Somehow the flowers made the girl think of her mother, but this time there was no ache, no pain.

Transformation

"It's Ruffel's grave." A voice spoke beside her, turning around the girl saw a dark haired elf woman, dressed in a beautiful purple dress.

"Yes, I heard about what happened to her. You must be Moonshade."

"I am. I've come to ask you if you want me to make you some new clothes."

"That would be nice, but…" The girl hesitated, shooting a sideway glance at Moonshade's dress, "I don't think see-through would suit me."

Smiling Moonshade lead the girl towards the big mountain towering above the Holt, though she had quickly learned that 'the mountain' was in fact the Palace of the High Ones – ancestors of all the elves – she had never been inside before. As they entered she could not help but letting out a gasp of awe and stand in the doorway as if frozen in place.

"It's okay." The tanner said with a smile. "Shuna felt weird about this place at first too. If it gets too much for you you're welcome to go outside for a while."

Unable to speak the girl simply nodded and followed Moonshade to a small room within the Palace, the room was filled with various kinds of leather and fabrics in more colours than the girl had ever known was possible.

"You made all that?" She asked.

"Most of it. Now, let me see; I think this would be just you." Quickly Moonshade went across the room and took down a roll of leather, golden like honey. Holding it next to the girl Moonshade nodded, clearly satisfied with what she was seeing.

"I like it." The girl said with a smile. "But… erhm... I stink! Is there somewhere I can get a bath? A place that isn't a newly thawed river that is."

"We do have a bathing room. It's not far, just ask along."

"Right." Smiling the girl ran outside the room and it wasn't long before she'd managed to find the room, ripping her old clothes off and discarding them in a pile on the floor she went into one of the basins. After soaking for a while, she began washing all over her body, amazed at how smooth her skin was when it was not covered in cuts and bruises – though of course it was not nowhere nearly as smooth as that of the elves. She was done washing, having also cleaned her long brown hair – though she still thought it was rather dull – and was leaning against the edge of the basin, when Moonshade came in with the new clothes.

Getting out of the bath the girl quickly dried herself before putting the new clothes on. Never in her life had she seen anything so beautiful; the dress, made from the honey-golden leather, went down to just below her knees, the edge cut in a way so it became slightly wavy. Instead of making sleeves from the same leather as the rest of the dress, the tanner had made elbow-long sleeves from dark red silk; she had used the same silk for a wide belt to hold the dress together.

"Wow." The girl said, looking at her reflection on the Palace wall. The she looked at her hair which, though clean, was still a rather dull brown colour, and rather heavy since she'd never cut it in her life, making it hang all the way down to her knees.

"Will you help me?" She asked, holding up her hair while indicating Moonshade's small knife.

"Sure, how much?"

"At the shoulders, I want a good chunk out of this."

Doing as asked Moonshade cut the girl's hair, and instantly it bounced upwards, relieved from several year's burden.

"I like it. There's just one problem." The girl said, attempting to blow her, now freed, hair out of her face.

"Wait here." Moonshade said and left the room, soon after returning with a piece of the silk. Smiling the girl tied her hair back with it before once again looking at her reflection. She liked what she saw, she had a feeling she could walk right into the middle of the village, and old Spider would never know who she was.

Like Music

It was strange, the girl thought as she went outside again, feeling beautiful. She hadn't felt beautiful since her mother died – it's hard to feel beautiful when everyone around you tell you that you're ugly. Her heart lighter than it had been for years she found that she just had to start dancing; laughing she began leaping and spinning, dancing partly to the sounds of the woods around her, partly to the music in her own mind. She was so caught up in her dancing that she didn't notice the root sticking out of the ground, her foot became trapped beneath it and she fell flat on her face.

"You okay?" Newstar asked, running towards her.

"Yes. Yes." The girl quickly replied while sitting up, turning around she saw everyone looking at her, clearly worried. Suddenly she couldn't help herself but burst out laughing, soon everyone joined in.

"Guess you aren't used to people falling flat on their faces when dancing." She gasped out once the laughter had somewhat subdued. "You've probably never seen such a ridiculous dance."

"Trust me." Dart said dryly. "I've seen much worse." He shot a sideway glance towards Sunstream, who in turn looked at Shenshen, who once again burst out laughing. In no time everyone was laughing again, even though this time most of them had no idea why.

"I hope what happened doesn't mean you won't dance anymore." One of the Sun Villager maidens – Maleen her name was – came over and said to the girl a while later.

"Of course not. Why would it? I'll just have to be more careful next time, I guess keeping my eyes open would help."

"You." Maleen began, with disbelief in her voice. "You'd closed your eyes?"

In reply, the girl simply nodded, a smile edging around her lips, and soon she found herself once again bursting with laughter.

"I know!" She all but yelled once she had regained air.

"What do you know?" Ohler asked.

"My name. I've found a name; Laela."

"It's beautiful." Leetah said with a smile. "What does it mean?"

"I don't it means anything, but it's me. It feels right."

"It sounds like music and laughter." Newstar said. "Quite fitting, considering that your laughter sounds like music."

"Laela." Cutter said slowly, as if tasting the name on his tongue. "It's a good name. Guess it is settled then; you have broken free from old hurts and are no longer the girl without a name. Now you have a prober tribe name; Laela."

"And if you want to." Newstar said, walking towards Laela together with Ohler. "A family. Like Cutter and Leetah took in Shuna and made her their daughter, so we would like to take you in, make you our daughter."

"That sounds wonderful." Laela said, walking over to her new parents. She was no longer 'Spider's daughter', no longer the girl without a name. Now she had a new family, a family that had welcomed her with open arms, and she had a name, a name like music.

Family

The next day Shuna, Shukopek and Kimo returned from having spent the winter at their hive a short distance away, as soon as Kimo had changed into elf-shape Newstar went over to him and whispered something.

"Is it true?" He asked delighted, looking at Laela. "You're my sister now?"

"I guess so."

"It's wonderful." He said, rushing over to give Laela a firm hug. "I've always dreamt of having a little sister, but as you perhaps know us elves can't have children that easily. And then my father…" his voice faltered, the loss clearly still strong in his heart.

"Your father must have been very kind." Laela said softly.

"He was." Newstar said a gleam of longing in her eyes.

"Somewhat crazy too." Ohler added. "Always getting into trouble when he was a boy. And who was charged with getting him out of trouble?"

"You? Why?"

"He was my brother. My brave little brother."

"I wish I could've known him." Laela said. "And Ikopek too." She added, turning to the two other humans. "And thank you, all of you, for teaching me that fathers are good and kind, and family much more than blood."

That spring Laela was like a newborn, taking in all the delights of the woods about her, most of the time she spent with her elf-father in his, or – as he insisted on calling it – their garden, tending the plants. One day as they were working the Preservers came flying into the Holt, acting as erratic as only the little winged creatures could act.

"Little Boy Big-Thing go shout-much. Shout-much!" The one named Petalwing screeched. "Make big noise."

"A young human boy?" Laela asked. She still didn't quite have the hang of the Preservers' weird speech habits, but she had figured that 'Big-Things' where humans.

"That must be it." Kimo said. "Should we look into it?"

"Why not?"

Quickly following the Preservers the siblings, the elf-boy and the human-girl, raced to the edge of the woods where there was indeed a human-boy, he was peering into the trees, though not quite entering, all the time shouting at the top of his lungs.

"Sister!" he shouted. "Sister please come home. Please! I'll make father treat you properly from now on. I will, I promise!"

"Who is he?" Kimo whispered.

"My brother. My half-brother."

"But the age difference between you doesn't seem that great, and if you remember your human-mother's name for you…"

"You know of old Spider, don't you? Do you really think he would stay faithful to a dead wife?"

Without words, Kimo simply shook his head, his eyes dark.

"She was hardly cold in the grave before he remarried; the boy over there is the oldest of his and his new wife's children. I've never had any strife with the children, not for lack of trying from their mother's part."

"What shall we do? He seems pretty determined to keep this up."

"I'll just have to tell him to go home."

Ignoring Kimo's protests Laela stepped out from the cover of the trees and towards the boy who was still shouting, his voice getting more and more hoarse.

"Hello, little brother." She said softly, smiling to the boy.

"Sister!" He yelled when he saw her, rushing over and threw his arms around her with such a force she almost fell over. "Are you going to come home now? I'll tell father to treat you properly from now on. And my mother too, I promise!"

"I'm sorry, little brother. I know you mean well, but you cannot change the way your parents treat me, and I can never return. My life is out here now, and I am happy."

"But, the spirits."

"Are good and kind. They took me in. They don't want people to fear them, or worship them. All they want is to have their place in this world, to live in peace. Now, go home little brother, and when the time is right tell everyone who'll listen what I just told you."

"I will, sister. And I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too. Every time you feel lonely or sad, look at the moons and remember that there are forces of good at work in this world."

Nodding the boy turned and began walking back towards the village of the Hill-Hopper clan, once she couldn't see him anymore Laela too turned, from one brother to another.

"You think he'll do as you told him?" Kimo asked as they walked back towards the Holt.

"I hope so."

"One more thing; you never refer to Spider as your father anymore."

"Why should I? This winter, while I was staying down in the Troll caverns, Windkin told me that fathers are those who support their children. Ohler has been more a father to me than old Spider ever has."


End file.
